Too Hungry To Care
by Serendipity Kat
Summary: [CATS] RumpleteazerTumblebrutus friendship. Oneshot. My last fic. Please read author's note.


_This is the last new CATS story I will be writing. I am leaving the fandom. My muse hasn't returned from where she was vacationing and I don't have any inspiration to continue. I will not be psoting any more chapters to any of my CATSfics. I am, however uploading chapters for "Holiday Love" and "Till She's Gone" that explain the ending. "My Love" is discontinued. I'm noe giving up the ending because ...IF... I update, it'll be that fic. I've taken down "Much Ado About Nothing", "A Different Cat", and "Is It Love?". I am leaving up the CATS fics that are already finished. _

_Many thanks to **Quidam, Krissy4, Chibi Teazer, and Mystitat** for all their help and support. _

_Krissy: I know I promised to update, but I don't have the motivation anymore. I'm sorry to let you down. (makes a sad face)_

_Quidam: You are such a dear. (grins)_

_Chibi Teazer: You've been with me as my beta from the start. I appreciate it. (hugs)_

_Mystitat: You also have been a beta and given me the constructive crit I wanted. (bows in thanks)_

_Why am I leaving, you ask? To be honest and frank, I'm getting bored with the fandom. There are too many bad new authors and all the good ones are either not updating or leaving/have left. There are also too many crappy stories to shift through to find good ones. I don't have the enegry to paw through loads of crappy fics. And... although I don't like to admit it, my interest in CATS itself is waning a bit. _

_My muse has taken an extended vacation and not told me where she's gone, so I have no inspiration to finish anything. _

_If you still want to read my writing, feel free to read my RENTfics and I even have a few Original Fiction pieces on my DeviantArt account. Right now, I have more inspiration for RENT. I will still be lurking around the CATS fandom here, though. I just won't be posting anything. And no amount of reviews, poking, pleading, asking, ect will get me to change my mind. It's already been tried. If you want to comment, I can be reached via PM, review, or email. _

_-Serendipity Kat_

* * *

Too Hungry To Care 

Tumblebrutus' stomach growled rather loudly as he wandered around the junkyard aimlessly. There was nobody around and it was hot out. His stomach was rumbling. He was wandering aimlessly around the junkyard when he heard a voice.

"Tumble, what are you doing?" a female voice purred from atop the car.

The brown and white looked up to see his friend, Rumpleteazer gazing with slitted eyes as she remained curled around her mate, Mungojerrie.

A grin spread across his kittenish face as he whined. "Teazer… I'm hungry and nobody's around. Jenny isn't even up to catch the day's mice."

Teazer laughed lightly and slowly uncurled herself from the tabby tom. "Tumble, you don't have to wait for Jenny to get food."

He cocked his head as his best friend jumped down to sit beside him, stretching as she did. "How? How, I can never seem to find the mice."

A devilish grin lit up her pretty face. "Who says it has to be mice?" With that she started trotting off towards the entrance to the junkyard. She bent her head around over her shoulder. "Coming? I'll show you."

Tumble started for a bit, then leapt up to follow her. The 2 of them sauntered out of the junkyard and into the alleyway.

After going a ways, Teazer looked around and ducked behind a garbage can. Tumble, who had been looking the other way, looked back and didn't see his companion anywhere.

"Teazer! Where are yo-" he was cut off as a paw snaked out from the shadows and grabbed him by the collar and yanked him behind the can as well.

"Shhhh, dummy! Be quiet. We're not in our territory." Teazer admonished him. "Do you have any idea what they could do to us? I can get by them, but only because Jerrie was one of them. I don't know about you, they just might decide to take you. I couldn't stand it if they did. So, please, listen to me, k?" There was a worried gleam in her green eyes.

Tumble, who was panting and shaking with a small amount of fear, nodded fearfully. "Who are 'they'?" he asked.

A sad air fell over her face as she shook her head gently. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to. You're better off knowing." Then she brightened up. "So, here's what we do. We'll go down Shop Street and search for… what kind of food do you want, anyhow?"

Tumble cocked his head and thought for a moment. "Um… I'm not sure… what about… steak?" His ears perked up.

Teazer wrinkled her pink nose. "Steak? Are you sure? Have you ever had it? It's not very good."

Tumble frowned. "Ok, then how about…" he sat down and felt something crinkly under his butt. He pulled it out and read what it said. "Hey, Teazer! Look at this!"

"Cattleman's Barbaque. The best pork ribs in London." Teazer looked thoughtful. "Hmmm…. Yes, BBQ would be lovely. Let's go."

The 2 of them took off down the alleyway behind the junkyard.

The unlit streetlamps gleamed in the afternoon sun as the 2 scurried behind buildings and through towers of creaky wooden crates.

Tumble, running not in a straight line, bumped into a stray plastic box and went sprawling. "Owwww…"

Teazer stopped and looked back in concern. Her eyes widened in horror. "TUMBLE! Look out!"

Tumble craned his neck up just to see the whole tower of plastic milk crates wobble and start to fall. "Uh-oh." He whispered.

"Tumble, MOVE!!" Teazer called, horrified at the thought of her best friend getting squashed.

Tumble scrambled to get up. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" with claw extended in panic and a wild-eyed look, he barely managed to scamper out of the way.

As the boxes came crashing down, the 2 felines raced out of the alley and onto the street. Tumble stopped in amazement. Everywhere there were humans bustling around. Short ones, tall ones, skinny ones, fat ones; he never knew that there were so many different types of humans. And the sounds, the smells; he swung his head all around trying to take it all in. Everything was so crowded! He had no idea what to do. He glanced around frantically, not seeing Teazer. "Teazer! Where are you?"

Suddenly, a paw reached out and grabbed him by the collar and drug him behind another box. Tumble sat, rubbing his paw on his neck while he turned his head, only to see green eyes staring at him. "Teazer…" he whined, "That hurt."

She rolled her eyes and began to lightly groom her face. "Serves you right. Haven't you ever seen a street before?"

Tumble shook his head. Her eyes widened.

"Really? I would think that such an inquisitive puss like you would have ventured into the world of humans at least once." She smiled. "No big deal though. But…" a stern look made it's way onto her face. "If you want to lift something to eat, you have to get rid of the 'dear caught in headlights' mentality. In order to survive out here, you need to be aware and quick." She poked her head out around the corner of the box and pointed across a wide cement walkway to where a car was parked. "Can you see that hunk of metal?"

Tumble nodded. "What is it?"

Rumple answered, "That's a car. Now. Can you get from here to there across the sidewalk without getting stepped on?" Seeing a confused looked on his brown and white face, she sighed. "Watch."

As Tumble watched in awe, the little tiger queen dashed out into the crowd.

She scrambled through legs and strollers and managed to get underneath the car unscathed. "Come on, Tumble!" she called.

He looked unsure, but his stomach started to growl and he decided to make a dash for it. He took a deep breath and started to run into the crowd.

"Hey, cat! Move!!"

"Darn cat!"

Came the angry cries as a few humans tripped over him and he went sprawling on the pavement.

"Hey mommy! There's a kitty! Can I get him?" came a little girl's voice.

Tumble's eyes widened in horror as he scrambled onto his paws and continued his frantic run to the car where his companion was waiting. He arrived there, panting hard.

"Are you ok, Tumble?" Rumpleteazer asked, smiling. "That was quite a run. The look on your face when the girl started to speak was priceless."

Tumble, still panting, rolled his eyes. "Come on Teazer, I bet you were just as scared on your first run."

Teazer looked innocently at him and replied, "Who me? You've got to be kidding. I grew up on the streets. But enough about me. You're still hungry and we are halfway there."

"Where are we going again?"

"To the BBQ place. It's over on the next street." She turned around and peered out from underneath the car. "And it looks like we'll have to cross the street." She sighed. "I don't want to do this, but you'll need to stay with me and we'll cross together."

_Honk! Screech!_ Two cars slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting the little cats as they darted across the street. She hissed at one set of tires and continued on, him on her tail. They got to the middle of the road and sat there on the divider line for a minute to catch their breath. Tumble was watching the road wide-eyed.

"Let's go!" She waited a beat and took off again. It took him a second to realize that she'd gone. There weren't any cars at the time.

"Teazer, wait!" he dashed out and rushed to her side on the other side of the road. The 2 cats sat there, underneath yet another car, and were breathing heavily. They sat there for a while until Rumpleteazer said happily, "Well done, Tumblebrutus. We're almost there. and on the way back, we'll take the shortcut." With that, she trotted off, leaving her friend to stare at her in shock.

Tumble ran after her. "Wait, you mean there is a way we could have bypassed all that and you didn't tell me?"

Teazer flicked her tail and turned her head. "Of course. I just figured you should get used to the real world. There is so much out there to see and do and eat, than can be found in the junkyard. Those cats in the junkyard, they don't go out anywhere because they don't think that there is anything out here. But there's a whole new world to discover; which you are doing. Jerrie and I do it all the time."

The brown and white tomcat shook his head and hurried to keep up with his friend. They ducked through another alleyway and scurried across a smaller street until they were right in front of a large building. The store front was clean-looking with red and white checkered curtains hanging in the windows and a bell above the door. There were some crates to the left, as that was the end of the street and a red awning above the sign. Tumble stared.

Rumpleteazer looked around slowly. "Let's see… how can we… yes, I got it." She turned her head to her friend, white whiskers twitching. "Tumble, we'll go around the back way. They tend to empty the garbage around now." She said quite authoritatively and ran around the side of the building and squeezed through a hole in the fencing.

Tumble followed a bit more slowly. The 2 cats sat and waited for about 10 min, when suddenly, the back door opened and out came a burly looking guy wearing a grease-stained white apron. He was wearing a red baseball cap on his large head and his face was unshaven.

Teazer trotted out and meowed loudly.

The guy looked down and smiled widely when he saw the little feline. "Well, lookie here. Whiskers, where have ya been? And where's ya sweetheart?"

Teazer meowed again and wound herself around the guy's legs.

He leaned down and scratched her behind her ears as she purred happily. Tumble poked his head out and seeing that Teazer was having fun, slowly made his way to her side. The guy looked up in surprise. "Another one? How many more ya got, Whiskers? Joker won't like ya hanging arounds with other toms. But I won't tells him if ya don't. Here, I gots something for ya." He straightened up and went back inside.

"Who's Joker?" Tumble asked.

Teazer smiled. "I'm Whiskers and Jerrie's Joker. We come here a lot. The guy knows us and now he knows you. he always has some special stuff for us. Watch."

The guy came back out and in his hand were 2 small bags bulging with goodies. "Her ya are. I saved 'em 'specially for ya. And you, sir, need a name." he scratched his head and looked at Tumble. "Pirate. That's ya name. With that patch you sure looks awfully rakish. I hope ya come 'round again, Pirate. I best be goin' back y my works." With that, he went back inside and closed the door.

Teazer went over to the bags and sinking her sharp little teeth into one, flung it over her back and started to walk away. "Youf comfing?" she asked, words muffled by the bag.

Tumble sniffed the other bag and copied her. "Reafy."

Together the 2 of them trotted back by way of the shortcut, then, instead of crossing the street again, Teazer took them down several more alleyways until they saw the familiar piles of junk that made up their home. As they set their parcels down Teazer grinned cheekily at Tumble and commented, "That wasn't so bad… was it?"

xXx

A few days later, Teazer was napping with Jerrie again, when she heard a few whispers.

"Where are we going?"

"Are you sure this'll work?"

"Of course I'm sure. Come on!"

Teazer smiled as she recognized Tumble's voice as the last one. Her grin widened when she saw a pair of red and black ears and a pair of white ears following him behind a stack of crates. She knew where he was taking Electra and Pouncival. She closed her eyes and the last thing she heard was,

"The road's not once you get used to it."

She grinned in catish glee and snuggled up to her mate once again.


End file.
